Current Status and Development of Humanities and Social Sciences in Japan

Author: Compiled by the Department of External Affairs, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
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Publication Date: 2003-05-01
Features: Section 3: New Trends in Japanese Philosophy Since the mid-1970s, Japan, after achieving modernization, began transitioning to an information-based society. By the 1980s, especially in the 1990s, Japan had already demonstrated characteristics of an information-based society in various aspects. Compared to the past, significant changes also occurred in the fields of philosophy, thought, and culture, primarily manifested in:
- Philosophy lost its definite mainstream and center, becoming more decentralized;
- A new trend emerged that transcended modernity in pursuit of sensibility;
- Philosophical research became more closely integrated with social, cultural, and human studies, conducting multidisciplinary and comprehensive research;
- Breaking away from the mere introduction of Western philosophy, Japaned its own path of independent research;
- Re-discovering, recognizing, and evaluating the modern significance of traditional Japanese and Eastern thought.
Here, only a few major trends are briefly introduced.
(1) The New Academy Philosophy Trend
The New Academy Philosophy was a new trend that emerged in Japan in the 1980s, promoting anti-rationalism and anti-scientism by utilizing structuralism and semiotics. This trend not only gained popularity in the field of philosophy but also spread widely in areas such as economic anthropology, cultural studies, artology, and literary theory, becoming a significant cultural phenomenon. The main representatives of the New Academy include Shinko Asada, Shunsuke Kurimoto, and Masao Yamaguchi.
Asada specializes in the study of economics and social thought history. After his debut work, Structure and Force, was published in 1983, it was reprinted 17 times within six months, selling over 100,000 copies. He followed it with the collection of essays The Theory of Escape. In his writings, Asada skillfully introduces Western trends to contemporary Japanese youth. In Structure and Force, he extensively quotes fragments from the works of modern French structuralists and cultural semioticians such as Saussure, Lévi-Strauss, Lacan, Kristof, Baudelaire, Derrida, and Deleuze, presenting them in a youth-friendly style, emotion, and manner to create an illusion of knowledge and provide a sense of novelty. In Structure and Force, he proposes his unique worldview, viewing the world as a living world where life is a dynamic, open system that controls its structure and internal and external processes through information. Thus, according to this worldview, the structure of organisms is formed through genetic information, and organisms, in turn, shape the environment through various forms. From this perspective, Asada further elaborates on his anthropological thoughts. Once organic life evolves to a certain stage and humans appear, what is the relationship between humans and nature? He concludes that humans are "mad creatures." The reason is that humans are in "conflict" with the "organic order woven by living nature." Here, "conflict" refers to viewing the organic order of nature and the survival methods of humans from a semiotic perspective, explaining the state where the codes of nature and human survival are "out of sync" or do not correspond. Asada's anthropology is based on the premise of distrusting humanity. He believes that humans have been "flawed creatures" from the beginning, and that "human nature is a disordered nature, unnatural." Therefore, humans are essentially irrational and disordered beings. Based on this anthropology, Asada expresses his view of modern civilization. The Theory of Escapely presents his perspective on modern civilization created by humans. He argues that the modern era is an "age of escaping civilization" and proposes transforming "settled civilization" into "escaping civilization." The so-called "settled civilization" refers to a civilization centered around the family, where individuals accumulate wealth, marry, and raise children, striving for family development and happiness. However, people now realize that what they have been accumulating is not "happiness" but "hardship," leading them to seek escape from this "settled civilization." Asada considers those pursuing "settled civilization" to be "obsessive." Therefore, in today's transition from "settled civilization" to "escaping civilization," the of the times also shifts from "obsessive" to "split." Thus, he urges young people, "Run away, run away, no matter where!" This reveals the theme of The Theory of Escape and, in his view, represents his perspective on modern civilization.
Kurimoto, who boasts of his expertise in economic anthropology, is similar to Asada in his unrestrained use of French structuralism and semiotics, advocating for the "reform" of economics and promoting its irrationalization and mystification. His representative works include Economic Anthropology, The Fantasy of Economics, The Monkey in Shorts, and The City Is Going Mad. Kurimoto's so-called "reform of economics" fundamentally involves reinterpreting "humans as biological beings" based on primitive society as a model and establishing a new economics. Drawing on theories such as Lévi-Strauss's cultural anthropology, Polanyi's economic anthropology, and Mauss's "theory of gift" from primitive society, Kurimoto extends the factors of primitive economic systems to critique various forms of economics. He argues that in primitive economic activities, there are no purely economic phenomena similar to those in modern society, and political phenomena are intertwined with religious charms, influencing economic activities. For example, in transactions, modern society operates on the principle of equal exchange, while in primitive society, the parties involved in transactions are not merely in a buying and selling relationship but also possess a complete personal relationship, representing a special exchange method known as "silent trade." General economics focuses on discussing the production, circulation, and distribution of commodities. Kurimoto believes these are merely superficial phenomena, and beneath the daily surface lies an irrational, non-daily part—i.e., the "traditional, habitual, and religious" part. Since primitive society is not a commodity-based or market-based society, people can clearly see this deeper "irrational" part. However, in modern society, economic rationality, in the form of market mechanisms, masks the entire society, making it difficult for people to see this deeper structure. Thus, Kurimoto argues that primitive society is a "more universal society" and a "more fundamental society" than modern society. This is the theoretical basis for him to construct a new economics based on primitive society as a model.
Structuralism, post-structuralism, and semiotics became popular in France during the 1960s and 1970s. This trend quickly spread to Japan in the 1970s and flourished in the 1980s, forming what is known as the "New Academy" with structuralism and semiotics as its theoretical pillars. Of course, the emergence of the Japanese New Academy also had its own background. After Japan entered the post-industrial society in the 1970s, its economic development shifted to a period of low growth. To adapt to this transformation and ensure sustained low-growth economic development, Japan further promoted computerization and automation, implementing a new technological revolution centered around microelectronics, thereby accelerating its transition to an information-based society. With societal changes, people's values also shifted, and the value of symbolized information far surpassed the value of tangible goods. Copy culture, information culture, and symbol culture consequently became popular. It was in this era that Asada and others utilized the irrationality of structuralism and semiotics and expanded its application to social, economic, and cultural fields, promoting Baudelaire's so-called "theory of symbolic exchange." They argued that the modern era is one that eliminates the symbol exchange medium of "things," where symbols and signs dominate; modernity is an "age of simulation," where economic value is eliminated and cannot be reduced to "things," becoming a valueless, structurally functional era. In other words, they believed that modernity is an era transitioning from "things" to symbols, from prototypes to copies, and from industrial society to post-industrial society. On the other hand, new technologies brought "high-performance" and "diversification" in the consumption of materials. The averageization of commodity quality erased the value of commodity scarcity, and people began to pay more attention to the style and emotional appeal of goods rather than just their quality. This led some young people to pursue branded goods and commodity culture. The New Academyed this psychological tendency, attracting young people to its cause with seemingly novel theories. The revival of irrationalism has gained support from some, reflecting the characteristics of contemporary Japanese thought.
(2) The Pursuit of Japanese and Eastern Traditional Philosophy
Revisiting and evaluating the modern significance of traditional Japanese and Eastern thought is another major trend in contemporary Japanese philosophy. This trend manifests in the following two aspects:
- Re-examining and discussing the modern significance of the thoughts of some famous Japanese philosophers in history to elevate their historical status. Here, Takejiro Fukuzawa and Kitaro Nishida are taken as examples to illustrate the broader picture.
Fukuzawa (1835–1901) was one of Japan's prominent enlightenment thinkers and was hailed as "Japan's Voltaire." Since the establishment of the Fukuzawa Association in 1973, research on Fukuzawa has become increasingly active. The association holds regular seminars on Fukuzawa's thought and has introduced the Fukuzawa Takejiro Annual, primarily featuring research papers and new materials. To re-establish Fukuzawa's position in the history of modern Japanese thought, some have traced his thought from its formation to his later years, striving to grasp the characteristics of his thought structure and its theoretical evolution as a whole. They examine the changes in his thought structure in relation to the internal factors of each period and the external circumstances and his own actions. They also emphasize the relationship between his thought and various traditional tools. In political philosophy, Fukuzawa vigorously promoted the social and political thought of Western modern bourgeois ideology centered around the "theory of natural rights." His egalitarian views, such as "There are no masters or slaves," and his ideas of "independence and self-respect" and the social contract theory of government had a profound impact on the Japanese people at the time. In his view of civilization, Fukuzawa believed that human civilization develops from low to high, but this development is relative and endless. Civilization encompasses both material and spiritual aspects, and the development of technology and industry serves as the material foundation for the enlightenment of civilization. These ideas contributed to the establishment of a bourgeois civilized state in Japan. The enlightenment thought represented by Fukuzawa in the early Meiji period made significant contributions to the development of Japanese capitalism.
The philosophy of Kitaro Nishida is the earliest and most original philosophy in the history of modern Japanese philosophy. In the pursuit of traditional philosophy today, Nishida's philosophy naturally becomes the primary object of re-evaluation. Nakao Yoshiji pointed out: "The numerous problems contained in Nishida's philosophy are extremely fundamental and essential issues. Therefore, if we thoroughly explore them in an expanded form, there is a possibility that Nishida's philosophy could become a common philosophical wealth of humanity" (The Deconstruction of Nishida Philosophy). Clearly, the purpose of re-evaluating Nishida's philosophy is to integrate it into world philosophy and to include Kitaro Nishida among the ranks of world thinkers. Nakao adopts Derrida's so-called "deconstruction" method, breaking down Nishida's philosophy, exploring its connections with modern thought in detail, and then reassembling it. In this way, the profound relationship between Nishida's philosophy and modern thought can be discovered as a whole. Takashi Takeuchi also believes that Nishida's philosophy reflects the philosophical consciousness of Japanese modern personality. Through Nishida's efforts, Western philosophy took root in the spiritual life of the Japanese people. Additionally, Hideo Suzuki and Shigeo Noda also re-examine the content and significance of Nishida's philosophy from the perspective of religious philosophy. Nishida's philosophy has had a relatively extensive and profound influence on the psychology of the Japanese people. Neglecting the study of Nishida's philosophy means abandoning the source of Japanese self-awareness; moreover, to create a new philosophy for Japan, it is also necessary to start from Nishida's philosophy. This is the significance of the current re-evaluation of Nishida's philosophy in the field of Japanese philosophy.